The Scoop Blog

From a businessman's perspective, Mark Cuban says, we're definitely better off than 4 years ago

Mark Cuban shares a yuk with President Barack Obama at the White House on Jan. 9, when the Dallas Mavericks were honored for winning the 2011 NBA title. At rear are tall millionaires Ian Mahinmi and Brian Cardinal. (HARAZ N. GHANBARI/AP)

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says he's tired of political rhetoric about whether the country is better off now than it was four years ago.

“As a starting point of reference,” Cuban writes, “here is a reminder of what the stock market was going through in the fall of 2008.”

Of the 10 largest point declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1889, five occurred in the fall of 2008, including the worst day ever, Sept. 29, 2008, when the Dow lost 778 points, or 7 percent.

Cuban writes:

Four years ago we were worried about whether or not our financial system would fail. We were worried about whether the auto industry would fail. … We were concerned with what the bottom in job losses would be and whether or not there even was a bottom.

Four years ago we were looking around and describing our situation as “The Great Recession”. Just the fact that we are no longer saying “We are in the midst of a Great Recession” by definition means that as a country we are better off financially and psychologically than we were 4 years ago.

This doesn't mean, however, that the Mavs' owner is giving big ups to President Barack Obama. Cuban's blog post, in fact, offers no clue about which candidate he's supporting.

He voted for Obama in 2008, he says, but he adds that the president “hasn’t lived up to what I hoped for.”

In particular, Cuban says, he hoped for greater transparency in government, which would have empowered all citizens to “participate in the process of understanding the true State of the Union.”

Cuban adds, “This administration has failed us in terms of transparency.”

Back to the question of whether we're better off now than four years ago: Cuban argues that it's the wrong question. Instead of looking back, he says, “Can we please change the discussion to – What comes next ?”

What specifically can be done to create jobs ? I want to know the details of what both candidates plan to do. And please don’t tell me that you are going to “Create 12 million jobs” . That just costs you credibility. Tell me how you are going to create jobs. Specifically.

By the way, I swung by the Dallas County Elections Department this afternoon to see if Cuban's voting history offers any clue about whether he usually votes as a Democrat or a Republican. (It does not.)

Who you vote for, of course, is between you and your conscience. But whether you vote in a given election is a matter of public record. And if someone routinely votes in, say, the Republican primary, that could be an indication that the person considers himself to be a Republican.

Cuban's history, in this regard, is a blank.

He dutifully votes in the November general election in presidential years — not just 2008, but also 2004, and 2000. He's also turned out for a goodly number of city and state elections.